Huge house fire extinguished on Fort Myers Beach despite difficulty

FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. – A house was still smoldering hours after large flames blasted huge plumes of dark smoke into the sky Saturday morning.

The home, located on Primo Drive, caught fire just after 7 a.m. Thirty-four firefighters responded, but had difficulty gaining access to the home because the road to the home was narrow.

The fire was burning dangerously close to power lines, so electricity in the area was turned off. Florida Power and Light was working to restore power after the fire was extinguished.

There were also other homes near the flames, Fort Myers Beach Fire Chief Matt Love said.

“I do know that crews put water on those adjacent houses so even if we saw a little bit of flame impingement, sounds like they got that under control pretty quick. And that’s usually one of the highest priorities: To make sure the incident doesn’t get bigger or worse,” he said.

No other homes were damaged in the fire, but neighbors did say they were awakened by what sounded like an explosion before seeing the flames.

“I was sleeping and I heard a really big boom and the whole house kind of shook and we came outside and a house was on fire,” Shaya Schmidt, who lives down the street, said.